Editorial: Tamimi is no saint

Ahed Tamimi

JANUARY 11, 2018 – Ahed Tamimi, the 16-year-old Palestinian teen who was recently arrested after slapping an Israeli soldier, has become an overnight celebrity for the Palestinian cause. With her Western looks, and blonde hair, she resembles any other teen in the US or Europe – two key areas where the Palestinian propaganda machine plays out every day.

Many observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict want simple answers and a quick resolution. They fail to read about the history of the conflict, and often dismiss facts that have led to a stalemate in negotiations.

As Ahed Tamimi is celebrated in the West for her actions, Palestinians see her as another cog in the wheel of its jihad. And even as her mother livestreamed her infamous slap on the Internet, Ahed advocated violence against Israelis and President Donald Trump. She said, “I wish that everybody would participate in demonstrations because that is the only way for us to get results; because our strength is in our stones; and I wish that everybody all over the world would unite so we can liberate Palestine, because Trump must bear responsibility for the decision he took for any Palestinian reaction – be it stabbings, martyrdom-seeking operations [i.e. suicide bombings], throwing stones – everyone must do something. So we can unite this way, so we can get our message across in the required way and get this result, that is the liberation of Palestine, Allah willing.”

Her words are hardly a surprise to Israelis. They’re aware that Palestinian children – many of whom are educated in US-funded, United Nations schools – are taught that Israel does not exist and encouraged to commit jihad. In fact, Ahed Tamimi was raised on jihad; several of her relatives were involved in the murder of many Israelis and Americans.

She learned about incitement on the knee of her mother, Nariman Tamimi. In 2015, at the beginning of the “Stabbing Intifada, Nariman shared a Facebook post with explicit instructions on how to best aim a knife to murder someone. In 2016, she again took to Facebook and honored the Palestinian terrorist who murdered a 13-year-old Israeli girl. In the post, her mother also added a photo of the blood-soaked bedroom of the murdered girl.

Mother Tamimi also had special praise for Ahed’s cousin, Ahlam Tamimi. Ahlam helped plan and carry out the deadly Sbarro attack in Jerusalem that killed 15 – and wounded over 100. “Ahlam, is this the face of a terrorist,” she wrote, above a photo of Ahlam. “No it isn’t. It’s the face of a rebel.”

And then there’s Ahed’s cousin, Nizar Tamimi, who married Ahlam Tamimi after she was released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. In 1993, Nizar, and another cousin, Said Tamimi, stabbed Israeli Chaim Mizrahi, and stuffed him in the trunk of his car and burned him alive.

Ahed Tamimi is no murderer, and can’t be convicted of her relatives’ crimes. But she’s hardly a saint. Who slaps a soldier? Someone who is committed to violence. And even Ahed would be the first person to endorse that notion.